Yungblud wore Iggy Pop’s leather trousers and Ozzy Osbourne’s necklace at 2025 VMAs

Yungblud paid homage to the late, great Ozzy Osbourne at the 2025 MTV VMAs, not only with a tribute performance, but with his styling, which drew also inspiration from Iggy Pop.

• READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne, 1948-2025: culture-smashing revolutionary that redefined rock and reality TV

The 42nd Video Music Awards took place at the UBS Arena in New York on Sunday night (September 7), and saw a portion of the show dedicated to the late Black Sabbath frontman, who passed away in July at the age of 76.

Ahead of the performance, the ‘Zombie’ singer posed shirtless on the red carpet, and the various pieces of silver jewellery on display included a cross given to him by Ozzy when they filmed the music video for ‘The Funeral’ –  a favour he later returned ahead of the ‘Back to The Beginning’ gig.

Aside from Ozzy’s aesthetic influence, the evening also saw him pay tribute to the ‘Godfather of Punk’ Pop by donning a pair of his trousers. “I’ve actually got Iggy Pop’s leather pants on,” Yungblud told Nylon on the carpet.

“Richard [Stark] from Chrome Hearts said if you can fit in them you can wear them.”

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Later on in the night, Yungblud kicked things off the Ozzy tribute performance with a cover of his 1980 solo hit ‘Crazy Train’, backed by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, later slowing things down with his celebrated and Ozzy-approved cover of Black Sabbath‘s ‘Changes’.

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry later joined him to take on ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’, prompting Ariana Grande to look on astonished at their vocals in now viral social media clips.

Not everyone received the performance so warmly, and The Darkness‘ Dan Hawkins called those involved a “bunch of bellends”.

Taking to social media, he wrote: “Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; shit.”

Yungblud was a part of the ‘Back To The Beginning’ Black Sabbath farewell show in July, an event that took on extra poignancy when Osbourne died less than three weeks later. Yungblud led a supergroup that also included Bettencourt, as well as II from Sleep Token and Adam Wakeman of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band.

They performed the Sabbath ballad ‘Changes’, and after Osbourne’s death, Yungblud vowed to play the song at every show “for the rest of my life”, adding: “To sing this song for you at an event surrounded by legends inspired by you to a crowd who loved you was truly my life’s greatest honour.”

It echoes comments he previously made to NME about the impact that Ozzy has had on his career. “Ozzy was a character in my life who was a reflection of everything I went through,” he told us.

“I was always a bit over the top. I was always seen to be a bit crazy. I was always seen to be a bit loud, but when some people saw that as a negative, Ozzy would provide me with the hope that there was an avenue for someone like me in the world.”

More recently, he made an appearance on Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast, and recalled some sage advice the late metal pioneer had given him.

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